The Comedy Festival
American Art festival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival,[5] was a comedy festival that ran from 1995[6][7] to 2008.[8] The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component[9] called the Film Discovery Program.[10][11]
| The Comedy Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy festival |
| Locations | Las Vegas, Nevada Aspen, Colorado[1] |
| Years active | 1995–2008[2] |
| Founded | 1995[3][4] |
History
The first 13 editions of the US Comedy Arts Festival were held annually at the Wheeler Opera House and other venues in Aspen, Colorado.[12] The primary sponsor of the festival was HBO, with co-sponsorship by Caesars Palace (the primary venue), TBS, GEICO Insurance, Twix candy bars and Smirnoff Vodka. In-between, HBO had started a spin-off version simply named The Comedy Festival, which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 2006,[13] in collaboration with the Anschutz Entertainment Group.
The Aspen event folded in 2007 once HBO exited the festival business, considering the expenditures too high.[8] American comedian Chris Fleming performed at the 2007 event.[14]
TBS picked up the Las Vegas event in 2008, and organized a follow-up edition that year, also arranging for other comedy festivals in collaboration with Just for Laughs.[15] In turn, Aspen replaced the festival with similar events, the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival and the Aspen Laff Festival.[16][17][18][19]